UNE celebrates new partnership with U.S. Naval Academy

On April 12, 2016, the University of New England welcomed students and faculty from the United States Naval Academy to celebrate a new research and education partnership. This Cooperative Research And Development Agreement (CRADA) is a three-year agreement linking UNE’s Marine Science programs and the USNA’S Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering program.

“This is the century of the ocean,” said UNE President Danielle Ripich. I am proud to celebrate this historic partnership between two institutions seeking to better understand and take advantage of the marine economy.”

To mark the end of the first year of collaboration between the two institutions, faculty, staff and students gave presentations on UNE’s ongoing research in Saco Bay and how that work has informed and influenced the education of UNE and Naval Academy students. “UNE is providing the science experience for our student engineers, giving them real world experiences in the marine economy, while the USNA midshipmen provide ocean engineering experience for UNE’s marine science students,” said David Fredriksson, Ph.D., professor of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering. 

 “The U.S. Naval Academy has one of the strongest undergraduate ocean engineering programs in the nation and their faculty have some of the most talented ocean, coastal, fisheries and aquaculture professors in the world,” said UNE Marine Sciences director Barry Costa-Pierce. “Our CRADA builds a unique partnership centered on undergraduate student research and training focused on the Saco Bay ecosystem as our living laboratory.”